Parliament to decide on need for COI after court case Is over

Purpose of such inquiries is to find out how something happened: Indranee

- Wong Shiying

Parliament will wait for former transport minister S. Iswaran's court case to conclude before deciding if a Committee of Inquiry (COI) is needed, said Leader of the House Indranee Rajah.

She said this in Parliament on Feb 5 in response to Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang), who had asked if a COI was necessary to investigate the matter further to affirm the Government's stance of keeping the system free of corruption.

Iswaran was arrested by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in July 2023 and released on bail.

He had been instructed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to take leave of absence until CPIB's investigations were completed.

On Jan 18, he was handed 27 charges, comprising two counts of corruption, 24 counts of obtaining items from someone he had business dealings with as a public servant, and one of obstructing the course of justice.

He is accused of obtaining items such as tickets to musicals and football matches from billionaire hotelier Ong Beng Seng. The value of the items in the 27 charges is worth more than $380,000.

Iswaran's pre-trial conference is scheduled for March 1.

Ms Indranee said in her speech on Feb 5 that a COI is appointed to look into matters including accidents involving death, serious injury or serious property damage, and incidents that may endanger public safety, public health or the management of a ministry.

Previously reported COIs had investigated incidents such as the SingHealth cyber attack in 2018 and the death of Singapore actor Aloysius Pang while he was on reservist duty in 2019.